Actor-Observer Bias

phenomenon of explaining other people's behavior are due to internal factors and our own behaviors are due to situational forces.

Ageism

prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based solely in their age.

Aggression

seeking to cause harm or pain to another person.

Altruism

humans' desire to help others even if the costs outweigh the benefits of helping.

Asch Effect

group majority influences an individual's judgment, even when that judgment is inaccurate.

Attitude

evaluations of or feelings toward a person, idea, or object that are typically positive or negative.

Attribution

explanation for the behavior of other people.

Bullying

a person, often an adolescent, being treated negatively repeatedly and over time.

Bystander Effect

situation in which a witness or bystander does not volunteer to help a victim or person in distress.

Central Route Persuasion

logic-driven arguments using data and facts to convince people of an argument's worthiness.

Cognitive Dissonance

psychological discomfort that arises from a conflict in a person's behaviors, attitudes, or beliefs that runs counter to one's positive self-perception.

Collectivist Culture

culture that focuses on communal relationships with others such as family, friends, and community.

Companionate Love

type of love consisting of intimacy and commitment, but not passion, associated with family relationships and close friendships.

Confederate

person who works for a researcher and is aware of the experiment, but who acts as a participant; used to manipulate social situations as part of the research design.

Confirmation Bias

seeking out information that supports stereotypes while ignoring information that is inconsistent with stereotypes.

Conformity

when individuals change their behavior to go along with the group even when they do not agree with the group.

Consummate Love

type of love occuring when intimacy, passion, and commitment are all present.

Cyberbullying

repeated behavior that is intended to cause psychological or emotional harm to another person and that takes place online.

Diffusion of Responsibility

tendency for no one in a group to help because the responsibility to help is spread throughout the group.

Discrimination

negative actions toward individuals as a result of their membership toward a particular group.

Dispositionism

describes a perspective common to personality psychologists, which asserts that our behavior is determined by internal factors, such as personality traits and temperament.

Empathy

capacity to understand another person's perspective- to feel what he or she feels.

Foot-in-the-door Technique

persuasion of one person by another person, encouraging a person to agree to a small favor, or to buy a small item, only to later request a larger favor or purchase of a larger item.

Fundamental Attribution Error

tendency to overemphasize internal factors as attributions for behavior and underestimate the power of the situation.

Group Polarization

strengthening the original group attitude after discussing views within the group.

Groupthink

group members modify their opinions to match what they believe is the group consensus.

Homophily

tendency for people to form social networks, including friendships, marriage, business relationships, and many other types of relationships with those who are similar.

Homophobia

prejudice and discrimination against individuals based solely on their sexual orientation.

Hostile Aggression

aggression motivated by feelings of anger with intent to cause pain.

In-Group

group that we identify with or see ourselves as belonging to.

In-Group Bias

preference for our own group over other groups.

Individualistic Culture

culture that focuses on individual achievement and autonomy.

Informational Social Influence

conformity to a group norm prompted by the belief that a group is more competent and has the correct information.

Instrumental Aggression

aggression motivated by achieving a goal and does not necessarily involve intent to cause pain.

Internal Factor

internal attribute of a person, such as personality traits or temperament.

Just-World Hypothesis

ideology common in the United States that people get the outcomes they deserve.

Justification of Effort

theory that people value goals and achievements more when they have put more effort into them.

Normative Social Influence

conformity to a group norm to fit in, feel good, and be accepted by the group.

Obedience

change of behavior to please an authority figure or to avoid aversive consequences.

Out-Group

group that we don't belong to- one that we view as fundamentally different from us.

Peripheral Route Persuasion

one person persuades another person; an indirect route that relies on association of peripheral cues (such as positive emotions and celebrity endorsement) to associate positivity with a message.

Persuasion

process of changing our attitude toward something based on some form of communication.

Prejudice

negative attitudes and feelings toward individuals based solely on their membership in a particular group.

Prosocial Behavior

voluntary behavior with the intent to help other people.

Racism

prejudice toward individuals based solely on their race.

Reciprocity

give and take in relationships.

Romantic Love

type of love consisting of intimacy and passion, but no commitment.

Scapegoating

act of blaming an out-group when the in-group experiences frustration or is blocked from obtaining a goal.

Script

person's knowledge about the sequence of events in a specific setting.

Self-Disclosure

sharing personal information in relationships.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy

treating stereotyped group members according to our biased expectations only to have this treatment influence the individual to act according to our stereotypic expectation, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs.

Self-Serving Bias

tendency for individuals to take credit by making dispositional or internal attributions for positive outcomes and situational or external attributions for negative outcomes.

Sexism

prejudice and discrimination toward individuals based on their sex.

Situationism

describes a perspective that behavior and actions are determined by the immediate environment and surroundings; a view promoted by social psychologists.

Social Facilitation

improved performance when an audience is watching verses when the individual performs the behavior alone.

Social Loafing

exertion of less effort by a person working in a group because individual performance cannot be evaluated separately from the group, thus causing performance decline on easy tasks.

Social Norm

group's expectations regarding what is appropriate and acceptable for the thoughts and behavior of its members.

Social Psychology

field of psychology that examines how people impact or affect each other, with particular focus on the power of the situation.

Social Role

socially defined pattern of behavior that is expected of a person in a given setting or group.

Stanford Prison Experiment

Stanford University conducted an experiment in a mock prison that demonstrated the power of social roles, social norms, and scripts.

Stereotype

specific beliefs or assumptions about individuals based solely on their membership in a group, regardless of their individual characteristics.

Triangular Theory of Love

model of love based on three components: intimacy, passion, and commitment; several types of love exist, depending on the presence or absence of each of these components.